Just to revisit a possible 515 OS software issue I detected and posted here about 5-6 weeks ago... I have BOTH of my 515s set to Manual Clock Set ON, and am using the digital Fox Network channel. The unit goes on at 11:59am and 11:59pm, looks for the time signal, and seems to keep absolutely perfect time. Both units' clocks are exactly in sync with my Scientific Atlanta STB clocks.

However, every 7-10 days (approximately), I hear one of the 515's HDD fan running while the unit is off. Sure enough, every single time this happens, the OTHER 515's fan is also running. Powering up each unit for ~30 seconds, and then turning it off, solves the immediate problem, as the fan shuts down.

My theory is that there is some sort of glitch in the 515s OS, and when the designated time set channel is somehow "offline" (no video signal? channel cannot be detected? time signal missing?), the 515 fails to complete the time setting procedure and, although the unit's power remains off, the fan remains on.

It's not a big deal, as I usually catch it within a few hours and shut off both fans, but the fact that it consistently happens with both units simultaneously makes me think that the units are mishandling a time setting signal glitch. Maybe Funai techs could be made aware of this, although it would probably be pretty damn hard to duplicate in a lab.

Again, a good option would be to set Manual Clock Set to OFF, and just reset the clock manually, as needed. Although using the Fox digital channel for time sync seems to work perfectly about 95% of the time. This whole thing may also be another customer affliction from that benificent cable provider, Blight House....

Your topic is close to my quest for a good clock. I have a 2160A and 515H. The 515H is super-quiet and I would not know if turned on. On Sat, Sun & Mon I am up at midnight. The use of Auto would get me a 2.51 hour slow clock from cable NTSC PBS Mon-Fri. The use of manual set to NTSC Fox would get me a 2 year + two hour slow clock on Sat & Sun only. This is true of both units. I have both set to clock set off right now as they are recording stuff.

When doing initial tests the units would only run for two minutes. And bad clock sets are only at midnight, not noon. It makes testing rather a prolonged process.

My clock acuracy from my cable feed has always been 6 seconds slow from various cable fed devices. The Funai units are still (in my opinion) watching for XDS signals. The U.S.A. has a lot of bad PSIP, and it has been recommended to use a manual clock only. I have a VCR that displays the presence of the XDS signal. I get it from my cable feed, but no PSIP or SCTE-127 data that I can detect. My older Mitsu VCR can tape the bad clock and play it back to cause the error (it preserves my analog VBI data).

ok, I'm lost on this one.
I recorded some HD OTA material (baseball game), saved it to dvd, and now, as I somewhat expected, when I playback the disc via my computer using either WMPlayer or Nero player, of course, the 1080i transmission is squished, visually (as it is now 480i).

What's the secret to having the magnavox 515 preserve that 1080i aspect ratio (not resolution, but aspect ratio) so that the file that was recorded in 1080i originally plays back in a 480i window with black bars top and bottom, preserving 16x9?
Can this only be done using the aspect control of the TV itself, or DVD's built in controls?

because the 515 converts everything to 480i, a TV with auto-source aspect will never display anything but 480i when 515 discs are concerned, correct?

Search the Internet for "anamorphic flag" and you should find some reading material that will at least help clarify the problem.

Well I think my H2160MW9 finally died. We had some lightning damage a few weeks ago and I thought my Mag survived a hit. After the storm the clock was still showing the correct time so I assumed it was ok. However the next day I noticed the clock display was dark so I tried a soft reset. The clock blinked on for a few milliseconds but that was it. I have tried leaving the unit off for several days and again attempting the reset but I still only get the quick blink. Don't suppose there is anything else to try? I'm considering ordering a 515 but I was wondering about the likelihood of a new model coming out soon? Didn't the 515 come out about a year ago. Not sure of their model upgrade cycle.

If you or anyone else has to replace the Main Fuse in their unit, I'd suggest ordering it from parts@funaiservice.com since that glass fuse is a "Time Lag" fuse, 2A 250V, and there are many other fuses that look alike and have same Amp and Voltage specs but different lengths and diameters, different names (like Fast Acting), etc., etc.

That's funny. I was just getting ready to ask you about the fuse specs. From the picture it looks like a 5x20mm fuse. Do you know if that is the case? I might borrow one from where I work so I can try and get the Mag going tonight.

That's funny. I was just getting ready to ask you about the fuse specs. From the picture it looks like a 5x20mm fuse. Do you know if that is the case? I might borrow one from where I work so I can try and get the Mag going tonight.

Here is a different view of the power supply in a 2080:

"A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME WILL SMELL AS SWEET. BUT IT DOES NOT FOLLOW THAT WHATEVER WE CHOOSE TO CALL A ROSE WILL POSSESS THE ROSE'S FRAGRANCE."

Home Depot of all places stocks many sizes of glass fuses(like used in our DVDRs) they even sell the slow blow type, they are in the electrical dept. in plastic flip down cubbies. Of course Radio Shack also stocks similar fuses. Always replace a fast acting with another fast acting or slow blow with another slow blow, using a fast acting in place of a slow blow won't really hurt anything but it will be more prone to blow with surges.
Bring the fuse with, since fuses come in many sizes that may look similar to each other from memory.

My only DVD+RW disks are one spool of 25 Sony AccuCore. My 515 randomly chooses to produce the subject error, usually after a title has gone entirely through phase one of dub, then through phase two of the dub up to the % on the media where the size of the title being dubbed would be finished; in the case of a 42 minute SP title, 30%, so usually much time passes before the error occurs, though sometimes the error is produced in the initial dubbing seconds. Erasing the disk on the 515 doesn't change anything. IIRC (this first happened a couple of weeks ago, before 90 days passed since pickup, and I forgot about it until today), erasing first on one of my 2160As will allow the 515 to record on it without errors. Trying the input 3 workaround for 2160As doesn't help, as not setting a DTV channel or input 1 or input 2. ATM of my first attempt of the day to dub, the timers were set as follows:

In order to raise the gap betwee dub time and next timer I changed the 1500-1601 from M-F to Tue, then changed it back after I found the extra time from current to next event didn't help. IIRC (not tried today, too much time wasted already for the time being), erasing all timers allows dub to succeed to completion, but erasing all timers is no small PITA.

Using DVD-R or DVD-RW nothing like this happens, they just work. The Sony DVD+RWs all work fine in my 2160As and my Pioneer 460.

I did look upthread about this generally, but never found what seemed to be an ultimate solution, just discussion of the problem beginning on page 416.

Home Depot of all places stocks many sizes of glass fuses(like used in our DVDRs) they even sell the slow blow type, they are in the electrical dept. in plastic flip down cubbies. Of course Radio Shack also stocks similar fuses. Always replace a fast acting with another fast acting or slow blow with another slow blow, using a fast acting in place of a slow blow won't really hurt anything but it will be more prone to blow with surges.
Bring the fuse with, since fuses come in many sizes that may look similar to each other from memory.

I think that the fact that a fast blow fuse does 'blow' faster,is a good reason to use them. It 'could' save a DVDR from sudden death in situations where "fast blow" vs."slow blow" might make a difference,whereas a slow blow fuse 'could' let your DVDR get killed. Any recording that gets wasted because the fast blow fuse 'blew' is worth losing,rather than losing the recorder. G.

I think that the fact that a fast blow fuse does 'blow' faster,is a good reason to use them. It 'could' save a DVDR from sudden death in situations where "fast blow" vs."slow blow" might make a difference,whereas a slow blow fuse 'could' let your DVDR get killed. Any recording that gets wasted because the fast blow fuse 'blew' is worth losing,rather than losing the recorder. G.

All electrical houses have the "Time Lag" AGC fuses these DVDRs use, so I think people should be looking for that exact term when they search for AGC fuses. They also have "Fast Acting" AGC fuses. The wire inside is visually different, as can be seen in the pics on these pages:

I have no, and no foreseeable plans to acquire any, DVD+R disks. My hideously picky Pioneer 633 can't use them. I don't know any way to acquire a single disk just for this test. I don't know anyone locally who uses them to bum one off of. I have about 170 TYG02 DVD-R on hand, which is about the only one write type the 633 can burn succesfully. Anyone else have an idea for doing the skip 987 test?

Besides no +R DVDs, this really looks like the 2160A problem reincarnated, but without any known workarounds.

Some burners just don't like certain media. I would try different media, even though the other recorder doesn't have the problem.

At least 3 other recorders don't have the problem.

This would be another instance of needing to bum a disk (or a few) from somewhere for just a test. I bought 25 DVD+RW (Sony) and 50 DVD-RW (25 Maxell, 25 Ativa) disks when they were on deep discount sale, and don't expect ever to buy any more ever. I only use them for two things: 1-freeing HD space temporarily; 2-one touch copy SP or HQ disks made on a Funai to a higher compression 160 minutes/DVD (usually) on a Pioneer for editing and ultimate burning to DVD-R. 160/DVD usually fits 4 42-44 minute episodes per blank DVD-R, which SPP misses by at least 10 minutes nominal. Even 170 minutes/DVD mode fits more and looks better than SPP. I have at least 20-25 never yet used RW disks, and lately have been diligently freeing up some previously used ones.

Well I think my H2160MW9 finally died. We had some lightning damage a few weeks ago and I thought my Mag survived a hit. After the storm the clock was still showing the correct time so I assumed it was ok. However the next day I noticed the clock display was dark so I tried a soft reset. The clock blinked on for a few milliseconds but that was it. I have tried leaving the unit off for several days and again attempting the reset but I still only get the quick blink. Don't suppose there is anything else to try? I'm considering ordering a 515 but I was wondering about the likelihood of a new model coming out soon? Didn't the 515 come out about a year ago. Not sure of their model upgrade cycle.

The quick blink to me means that the fuse is not blown or there would be no power to make it blink.

Look at the power supply for anything obvious such as bulging capacitors or something that looks burnt.

for HD recording, I am only using over the air antenna HD. So, it's either 1080i or 720p when it hits the Mag 515. The manual says to select 16x9 Aspect it that is indeed the TV's aspect, so that's what I've done.
I can get anamorphic 16x9 on my tv using the tv's aspect ratio setting for material that was recorded from HD antenna, but what's the trick when playing back the same disc on a computer using Windows Media Player, for example?

AS others may have said use VLC media player and on the video tab choose aspect ratio and change to 16:9. My TV I can hit the fill button and they looks pretty good.

My satellite dish is off the roof while the roof gets replaced. So 515 only. Last week I used it three times for extra events the Sat DVR couldn't handle due to it only having two tuners.

The picture isn't quite HD but it is pretty good recorded off of a HD Clear QAM Cable channel.

The quick blink to me means that the fuse is not blown or there would be no power to make it blink.

Look at the power supply for anything obvious such as bulging capacitors or something that looks burnt.

Yea I wasn't really hopeful that it would be the fuse, which it was not. I did look at the power supply components and did not see anything obvious. The sad thing is that it could be a part that costs pennies and could be repaired easily.

New to this machine but have owned Panasonic and Pioneer before. When I dubbed from HD to DVD, the thumbnails of the material appeared on the screen when it was done. I tried RETURN,CLEAR, arrowing up and down, SETUP etc but could not get off the screen. This is probably a stupid question but how do you clear a screen? I finally opened and closed the tray then quickly hit SETUP so I could get to the Finalize Function. But that does not bode well for the long term health of the drawer mechanism
(My machine is a refurb and I wonder if I that has something to do with it.)

New to this machine but have owned Panasonic and Pioneer before. When I dubbed from HD to DVD, the thumbnails of the material appeared on the screen when it was done. I tried RETURN,CLEAR, arrowing up and down, SETUP etc but could not get off the screen. This is probably a stupid question but how do you clear a screen? I finally opened and closed the tray then quickly hit SETUP so I could get to the Finalize Function. But that does not bode well for the long term health of the drawer mechanism
(My machine is a refurb and I wonder if I that has something to do with it.)

Yea I wasn't really hopeful that it would be the fuse, which it was not. I did look at the power supply components and did not see anything obvious. The sad thing is that it could be a part that costs pennies and could be repaired easily.

My experience with a Samsung STB that had same symptom (momentary flash of power light) was that there was no obvious to the eye problem, but from other advice I replaced all the electrolytic caps (8 of them) and that fixed it. Fortunately, someone had gone down this road before and had part numbers from an online vendor (Digikey -- good service) so I could just order the parts. I don't know how hard it is to find appropriate replacement caps for the Funai power supply.

Prefer low ESR types if available.
Prefer low impedence types if available.
Small ones of less than 220uF and low voltage rarely need to be replaced.
Don't mix up + & - when installing. They only work one way.

If you can't find an exact match, the next higher voltage can be substituted if you can find a physical fit for the available space. Physical fit includes installing sideways if necessary and physically possible.